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Sunday, February 5, 2012

We're going off the board today to look back at my most memorable Super Sundays. I can only remember back to Super Bowl V when my then-beloved Colts took on the Cowboys at the Orange Bowl in Miami, so that's as far back as I can remember.

We'll take a chronological look at my most memorable games (the ones that have stayed with me all these years)....

1. Super Bowl V - Colts 16 Cowboys 13 (1971). As a huge Johnny Unitas fan, this one was a big one for an 8-year old kid. Unfortunately, it's the last time my favorite team won a Super Bowl (it's been a long 41 years). In 1986, I officially became a Bills fan coinciding with the Colts move from Baltimore and Jim Kelly's arrival in the B-Lo. Watched this one at my childhood friend and next door neighbor Jay's house, where we played Batman at halftime. Jay is now the Editor of Syracuse University magazine, who I will see in a few weeks before the Cuse-So Florida game. Oh yeah, a Jim O'Brien field goal won this one in the closing moments.

2. Super Bowl VIII - Dolphins 24 Vikings 7 (1975). Tommy Erving was having a Super Bowl birthday party complete with a super-awesome snow football game (tackle). How cool is that. We were outside for the entire first half, and we pretended we were the two teams playing in Houston at Rice Stadium. I think the Vikings actually won the snow game, and I think I was Chuck Foreman, but things are a little sketchy.

3. Super Bowl XIII - Steelers 35 Cowboys 31 (1979). Another Orange Bowl game and you had Bradshaw and Staubach leading their respective squads. As a high school kid, this was one of the more competitive games through the first 13 Super Bowls, as most up to this point were boring blowouts. Lynn Swann was superb and the performance probably solidified his Hall of Fame nomination.

4. Super Bowl XVI - 49ers 26 Bengals 21 (1982). One of the better Super Bowls and watched in the Anderson Dorm TV room with my college friends. May be the first Super Bowl where alcohol was involved. One of the better games I remember vividly watching in the dorms, along with the 1982 North Carolina-Georgetown championship game (sitting next to Freddie Brown's high school teammate) and the Pearl's half court shot against BC on an ESPN Big Monday. I can only imagine if we would have been able to capture the conversations in that dorm common room during the game on Twitter.

5. Super Bowl XXIII. 49ers 20 Bengals 16 (1989). Montana magic at the end of a great Super Bowl, complete with a kickoff return touchdown and a classic drive culminated by John Taylor's catch in the end zone.

6. Super Bowl XXV. Giants 20 Bills 19 (1991). 19 points in 19 minutes of possession. Thurman's terrific game on the ground. Bruce's safety that could have turned the game if only Hostetler didn't hang onto the ball. Wide right. Watched at friends house in agony as the kick missed. Still haunting. The week before they played the perfect game using the no-huddle to befuddle the Raiders 51-3. That AFC Championship game was probably the best complete game I ever saw them play. Game of inches.

8. Super Bowl XXXVI Patriots 20 Rams 17 (2002). Maybe one of the best and most competitive SB's ever with Brady vs. Warner (Greatest Team on Turf). The Superdome saw a terrific game and the start of a dynasty for Brady & Belicheck. Maybe the Best Super Bowl ever complete with 4th quarter drives by both teams and a game winning field goal as time expired.

9. Super Bowl XLII Giants 17 Patriots 14 (2008). 18-1. SU grad David Tyree with one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history. Still can't figure out how Eli escaped that sack and was able to spot Tyree downfield. Denial of history. I think we had an awesome chip and dip appetizer that day also.

10. Super Bowl XLIII Steelers 27 Cardinals 24 (2009). The Space Kid arrived the day before and I held him for most of the game. The Space Gal is a long-time Steeler fan, so this one turned out pretty special for the family.

It's amazing how Super Bowls are remembered through the years, those are a few that came to mind today whether they were great games, included my hometown team or marked a family milestone. Hope we get a good game today. We'll return you to the regularly scheduled racing blog later this week.